- delayed speech
- mixing up the sounds and syllables in long words
- chronic ear infections
- severe reactions to childhood illnesses
- constant confusion of left versus right
- late establishing a dominant hand
- difficulty learning to tie shoes
- trouble memorizing their address, phone number, or the alphabet
- can’t create words that rhyme
- a close relative with dyslexia
Could it be Dyslexia?
If a child has three or more of the following warning signs, they may have dyslexia, and could benefit greatly from specialized tutoring:
In Preschool
In Elementary School
- dysgraphia (slow, non-automatic handwriting that is difficult to read)
- letter or number reversals continuing past the end of first grade
- extreme difficulty learning cursive
- slow, choppy, inaccurate reading
- guesses based on shape or context
- skips or misreads prepositions (at, to, of)
- ignores suffixes
- can’t sound out unknown words
- terrible spelling
- often can’t remember sight words (they, were, does) or homonyms (their, they’re, and there)
- difficulty telling time with a clock with hands
- trouble with math
- memorizing multiplication tables
- memorizing a sequence of steps
- directionality
- when speaking, difficulty finding the correct word
- lots of “whatyamacallits” and “thingies”
- common sayings come out slightly twisted
- extremely messy bedroom, backpack, and desk
- dreads going to school
- complains of stomach aches or headaches
- may have nightmares about school
In High School
All of the other symptoms plus:
- limited vocabulary
- extremely poor written expression (large discrepancy between verbal skills and written compositions)
- unable to master a foreign language
- difficulty reading printed music
- poor grades in many classes
- may drop out of high school
This list is republished with the permission of Susan Barton, from her book In Screening for Dyslexia, Part 1.